Hard fought win

Battle Creek Lakeview was able to tie the game three times in the final quarter, but Sturgis would not give up the lead and held on for a hard-fought 61-56 win Tuesday at home.

"Maybe had they got up on us, momentum would have switched," Trojan coach Keith Kurowski said. "Basketball sometimes is a game of momentum and we never let them get ahead in that fourth quarter. I think that was one of the keys that paved the way to our victory."

Sturgis (6-7, 3-6 SMAC East) led 43-40 after three quarters. Lakeview (4-8, 4-5) tied the game at 44, 48 and the final time at 54-54 with 1:31 left in the game.

The Trojans' Jalen Cox answered with a 3-pointer of a feed from Tyler Bennett moments later and Sturgis hit 4-of-6 free throws in the final 37.2 seconds to get the 5-point win.

"It certainly was a game of runs and many lead changes," Kurowski said. "But we talked about winning a close game. We had lost four fourth-quarter leads this year. We talked about it coming down to handling pressure, making foul shots and getting stops. I wouldn't say it was an A-plus effort in the fourth quarter, it was enough to win.

"So hopefully this game is a confidence-building game to demonstrate to ourselves that we can close out games."

After two ties and four lead changes early, the Spartans were able to built a 16-10 lead as Tyreace Frederick hit a triple in the final moments of the first quarter.

"It was a game of early mistakes for us," Kurowski said. "Everything we talked about trying to prevent prior to the game, we did the opposite in the first quarter. We had a lot of mental and physical mistakes in the first quarter."

Lakeview pushed the lead to 22-12 after a rare 6-point play. The Spartans' Jake Bievens hit a triple, was fouled and the Trojans were hit a technical foul for arguing the call. Bievens added three more points from the foul line.

Chance Stewart then took over outscoring Lakeview 9-2 himself.

"We had one of our captains, Chance Stewart, put the team on his back and challenged the guys," Kurowski said. "In one of the timeouts he said 'let me talk coach'. He lit a fire under us. That's the kind of leader and person Chance is, he turned the momentum and we were able to get on top and take a lead into halftime."

Portillo followed with an offensive putback, Patrick Haas hit a triple for the lead and Cox added a late basket as Sturgis took a 28-24 lead into the break.

"We need other guys to step up like Patrick Haas and Eduardo," Kurowski said. "We need guys who are going to compliment our leading scorers, Jalen and Chance."

Portillo scored eight of his varsity career-high 15 points in the third quarter as the Trojans were able to push the lead to 37-27 just past the midpoint of the period.

"Eduardo is the consummate team player," Kurowski said. He doesn't say much and does his job. He's one of the better role-players I've coached her at Sturgis or even in all my years as a high school coach. He does whatever is asked of him. He's becoming a little bit of a scorer and teams are going to have to concentrate on him. He's smart, unselfish and plays hard on both ends of the floor."

The Spartans were able to put a late run together to pull within 43-40 with eight minutes left in the game.

"Give them credit, they didn't go away and they're a good ballclub," Kurowski said. "They gave us everything that we could handle, but we had just enough to win."

Stewart, who was 10-for-11 from the foul line, tossed in a team-high 22 for the Trojans, Cox, who had eight points in the fourth quarter, notched 14 and Bennett and Haas each added five.

"It was a well-balanced team victory, a lot of guys played well," Kurowski said. "We got contributions from many different people."

Bievens finished with 23 points for the Spartans, Devon Daniels threw in 17, Jake Love added six, Brennan Kerr finished with four and Donnie Ernsberger and Frederick each had three.

Sturgis was 18-for-23 from the line, while Lakeview went 16-for-23.

Stewart grabbed 14 rebounds for Sturgis and collected five blocks. Portillo swiped six steals and Bennett had three assists.

Both teams were able to knock down shots early and the teams were tied 14-14 after one quarter of acton. Maple Valley continued to score points in the second quarter, holding a 15-6 advantage, and led 29-20 at the break.

The Lions build their lead by four more points in the third quarter, leading 45-32 after three quarters.

Mike Harris had 11 points for Constantine while Justin Bontrager and Cody Ley each chipped in six points. Bruce Heslet tossed in four points, Lonnie Wright and Perry White each had three points while Jeff Heign and Payton White both had two points. Payton added 10 rebounds.

Covert 91, Centreville 77

Centreville's boy's basketball team scored 77 points on Tuesday night, but lost to Covert 91-77.

The battle between the Bulldogs saw Covert score 55 points in the paint — and they took 72 shots from the field on the night. They made 38 of those.

Centreville took the lead early in the high-scoring affair, 21-16 after one quarter. Covert out-scored Centreville by two in the second quarter, but still trailed at halftime 38-35.

A 30-point third quarter pushed Covert into the lead for good. Centreville tossed in 14 third-quarter points, but trailed 65-52 heading into the final eight minutes.

Eli Schwartz led Centreville with 22 points while Chris Chupp tossed in 14 off the bench.

"Our young men worked very hard, but execution — patient execution, taking care of the ball and one situational recognition is still not quite there," head coach Tony Cholometes said. "We're getting there, but it has not been easy."

The first quarter proved big for Mattawan, leading 16-8. They led 25-17 at halftime.

Mattawan was able to extend the lead to double digits after three quarters, 42-31. White Pigeon had cut into the lead during that quarter, however.

"When we pulled within five points in the third quarter I thought we had an opportunity to get one of the road against a very talented, well-coached Class A team," Cholometes said.

Matt Crowl led with 10 points and 10 rebounds while Robbie Gibson tossed in 10 points and three rebounds. Branson Salyer chipped in with nine points, Mitchell Moore had four points and Riley Olsen had three points.